August 22, 2006

Rigas – “Stench Of You”

What is worse –
the smell of me
or the stench of you?

Another Swedish band, from Årsta. This song came to me from a delicious mix put together by Cathleen. I was chatting with someone just the other day about a genre I made up in my head to classify a particular style of song I like, indiediscodancepop, and this song would be a prime example. I dare anyone to listen to it and not at least bob their head. There’s this particularly enjoyable elastic whoop-whoop sound going throughout the song, plus fun keyboards.

August 22, 2006

This is week three of Staying Home With Tallulah While Maintaining My 40 Hour Work Week. Today, I really want to just sit at a table at Weaver Street Market or the Open Eye with a book. And I can’t wait until Tallulah can be persuaded to do the same thing, to sit with me, reading her own book, while I read my own book. We could read and drink our drinks together. Someday soon…

Kindergarten starts next week. I visited the school yesterday for orientation. The school is much nicer than my school was, although I have no complaints about my elementary school. The playground is bordered by large stands of trees, which makes a lovely visual backdrop. The playground at my school was bordered by a row of enormous eucalyptus trees and a chain-link fence, and beyond it the wind would whip across the sands of naval radar listening base from the ocean. My school playground, in my memories, is very white-yellow and baked with that California sun. Tallulah’s school’s playground is lush and green. Her school has a science lab, a music room, a library, an art room, an outdoor classroom, a bird-watching platform, gardens, etc. I’m impressed.

It’s not surprising that I felt out of place among the other parents at the orientation. At this point, I don’t know if I feel out of place because I expect to feel out of place, or if it’s because I really am out of place. Regardless, I’m starting to feel a little wistfully sad that the sorts of people I like to hang out with, the clever, caring, interesting, amusing, excited people, seem to be the sorts of people who do not expect to have children (with a few very noteworthy exceptions). Which is a perfectly valid, upstanding choice, to not have children. And yet, for my own selfish reasons, I wish I knew a lot more other adults who were the sort of people I am fond of, who were also parents.

August 20, 2006

– knowing that this crazy scheduling insanity (basically working two full-time jobs) will end SOON.
– walking down the road with Tallulah and realizing that we were both wearing black skirts and black shirts, and laughing when she noticed too. It was not planned, but it was funny. Matching mother-daughter ensembles are not cool (ahem, Laura Ashley, Hanna Andersson), but it made me chuckle.
– fig/chicken/chevre pizza made by Sean, sitting in the kitchen with him, listening to music, drinking beer, being together, relaxed, in love, remembering why we’re still here after all these years together.
– bathing Matilda and listening to her count to ten in English and Spanish and sing songs to me and laughing at her incredible cuteness. And then bathing Tallulah and playing a spelling game with her and feeling so proud of my two lovelies. The mom thing is working out really well right now.
– kite-flying with Tallulah one windy afternoon.
– leaves already falling from the sky.
– driving to Greensboro with Jason to see Of Montreal. The Minders opened the set, they played the one song of theirs that I love “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and ended with a Pink Floyd song that rocked. Of Montreal caused me to jump up and down and shake around in a way I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time. The venue in Greensboro is VERY nice, I was mightily impressed with their bathrooms, even. Plus “Old” Greensboro’s cute! and the drive there is not much farther than going to Raleigh, just in the opposite direction. I see more time spent in Greensboro in my future. In addition to all the great songs Of Montreal played that I loved, they played 2 or 3 new songs (they are in the vein of the dancepoprock of the last album, and quite good), they did a cover of the Gnarls Barkley song I’m still not tired of (and really now, what other band could do such a good, true cover of that song?), and I swear they did a Cars song, but I can’t be sure anymore, come to think of it. Maybe they just sound like the Cars sometimes.
– getting to know Cathleen better. And Amanda. And Karen. And Robb. And all the other amazing people I get to know better as the days go by.
– feeling centered, and assured. I know what I’m doing. I’m strong, capable, honest, hardworking, and things will come to me and I will come to things, and so it goes.
– breakfast with Christy visiting from Seattle.
– band practice. We rock. I’m learning to embrace our exuberance and goofiness. That’s exactly what I need.

I will not write of the Foundry Field Recordings show early in the week. I learned some very interesting things that had nothing to do with the band, but the night ended in ignominy, of an embarassing nature that I shall not report. And I have a lot of mosquito bites this week, after weeks of successfully avoiding the little bloodsuckers.

I bet I left a lot of stuff out. Due to momentary forgetfulness, the public nature of the Internet, and the general G-rated nature of this here blog. : )